The DA is calling for the dissolution of the Johannesburg metro council to put SA’s richest and largest city on a firm footing as it continues to be dogged by leadership instability, which will see mayor Kabelo Gwamanda facing a motion of no confidence on Thursday.
Gwamanda, from the Al Jama-ah party — which holds three seats in the 270-seat council — is the ninth mayor of Joburg since the 2016 local government elections.
The past mayors of the metro include Parks Tau (2016), Herman Mashaba (2016/19), Geoff Makhubo (2020/21), Mpho Moerane (2021), Jolidee Matongo (2021), Mpho Phalatse (2021/22), Dada Morero (2022) and Thapelo Amad (2023).
The leadership instability in the metro is affecting the delivery of services to the city’s six-million residents, something DA Gauteng chair Fred Nel wants the political parties to address once and for all — by dissolving the council.
He said the DA will move on Thursday for an amendment to the no confidence motion filed against Gwamanda by ActionSA. ActionSA spokesperson Lerato Ngobeni dismissed reports on Monday saying the party had withdrawn the motion, saying: “There is no confirmation from our side that we have done so.”
Meanwhile, Nel said the DA's amendment “will call for the motion to be postponed until November 2, when two years have elapsed and the council will be legally entitled to dissolve itself”.
“Our amendment will move that the Johannesburg council dissolve itself as soon as possible in order for new elections to take place. Should our motion succeed, by-elections will be held across Joburg within 90 days, giving voters another chance to elect a new, more stable city council that can begin to rescue our country’s biggest city.”
The DA has already written to its former coalition partners in Joburg inviting them to “help us put politics aside by passing this motion in the interest of finally providing a stable, ethical city government”.
“This instability can only be fixed by allowing voters the opportunity for a fresh mandate. The root cause of Joburg’s instability is the excessive political fragmentation that followed the November 2021 local government elections. This fragmentation led to no fewer than 18 parties gaining representation in council — with eight of those parties holding the balance of power despite only gaining a single seat each.”
Nel said yet another no confidence motion will do “absolutely nothing to solve the root cause of Joburg’s instability. All this motion will do is bring about more instability which will undermine service delivery further. The DA cannot play a role in aggravating this instability. We will not participate in a government unless it is both stable and ethical”.
“The only way out of this impasse is to go back to the voters to ask them to reconsider their mandate to avoid repeating the chaos of the past two years since the 2021 elections,” he said.
In the event the amendment to dissolve the council does not pass, the DA will abstain from voting on any further motions of no confidence, instead “we will introduce a stand-alone new motion to dissolve the council on November 2, followed by fresh elections within 90 days”.
The no confidence motion against Gwamanda come two weeks after seven opposition party leaders signed a multiparty charter for SA, aimed at unseating the governing ANC during the provincial and national elections in 2024.
It also comes after ANC leader President Cyril Ramaphosa recently called for Johannesburg finance political head Dada Morero to again be executive mayor. Speaking at an ANC event recently, Ramaphosa said Morero, who is ANC Greater Johannesburg regional chair, had a “good grasp” of local government finances and service delivery. “Each time I speak to him I get a sense of somebody who understands how the budget works and service delivery,” Ramaphosa said.
Morero served as Joburg mayor for 25 days in September 2022, before the courts ruled DA councillor Mpho Phalatse’s removal from the mayoral position was unlawful, and set it aside.
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